St. Paul school district favors Dell proposal for technology platform

St. Paul district leaders have picked Dell to design a key piece of their eight-year technology plan.

Dell will create an online portal where students, teachers and parents can access the district's digital tools -- from lessons to tests to data on student progress. The prominent computer technology company's proposal was the strongest, district officials told the school board while asking them to back a five-year contract next week.

At more than $4.2 million over five years, the proposal was also more expensive than other pitches.

The district's other finalist, Desire2Learn, offered a five-year price tag of $2.1 million. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system uses Desire2Learn and offers to host platforms for school districts on its server.

This week, some on the school board voiced concern about the purchase, questioning whether the district has secured enough buy-in from teachers and other staff. But most members said they are eager to sign off on the contract at the meeting Tuesday, Jan. 22, so the district can tackle its technology plan in earnest.

In November, taxpayers backed a $9 million-per-year levy increase to fund the technology plan, which includes the platform.

"I wish we had a time machine with this technology to go back and do this sooner," said board member Louise Seeba.

The Dell platform will assemble a variety of resources on one website: online assignments, discussion boards where students and teachers can connect, student performance data educators can monitor and more.

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With the system's help, district leaders say they can pursue the main goals of their plan: more independent work by students tailored to their interests and learning styles and more collaboration by teachers. Dell's proposal includes extensive training for staff and ongoing support for platform users.

One adopter of Dell's customized product, Hall County Schools in Georgia, has reported some early gains in achievement, particularly for students who were already meeting standards.

Later this month, the St. Paul district will announce members of an internal steering committee to oversee the platform rollout. The deadline for staff and residents to apply for four "action teams" that will offer input has been pushed back a couple of weeks.

At a meeting Tuesday, board member John Brodrick again questioned whether the platform contract should come before the input from the people who will eventually use the platform.

He said the district has been known to choose learning materials that "flew in the face of what teachers wanted," though he did not offer an example. And he said questions and comments the board has fielded made him wonder whether educators and others are on board.

"There's an undercurrent of skepticism among some of our staff about moving ahead," he said.

The district said teachers and students already offered feedback when a district committee reviewed the proposals from companies. That committee featured one teacher, two principals and six administrators.

Educators will also take active part in designing the platform, said deputy for schools Michael Baumann.

"We're not buying something premade. We're going to design that," he said. "The teachers are key and essential players in that design."

Mary Cathryn Ricker, the teachers' union president, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

District leaders also addressed questions Tuesday about using a low-cost "open-source" product, available without a contract, instead of signing on with a vendor. They said only a custom platform would do all the tasks the district wants and give staff one-stop-shop convenience in place of multiple logins.

Some metro districts, such as Edina and Stillwater, have said they are sticking with open-source products until a dynamic platform market yields more advanced portals.

But most board members at Tuesday's meeting spoke forcefully in favor of approving the contract.

Jean O'Connell, the outgoing board chair, said she understands the sense of uncertainty among some in the district. But, "we have a group of people who have done their homework, and I think we have to trust them," she said. "I think we have to make that step."

For applications to serve on the St. Paul schools' technology action teams, go online to academics.spps.org. Deadline is Feb. 1. For information or a hard copy of the application, email leanne.crowley@spps.org.